Tuna Taco Report

Today we took the motor home to Rockport to have the air conditioner checked. The heat pump wasn't working much, kept popping the breaker. Which was interesting when it was 95 on Saturday, but it was a dry day and it always cools off at night, and you can always count on the wind to blow. So it isn't as bad as it could be, and they are having a part expressed in and we will get it fixed on Tuesday. Major shop at Walmart and HEB. Stocking up on my fav HEB products for the summer.

Then we had lunch at the Spaghetti Works. Finally, they had amber jack fish, which was delish. Paul had their spaghetti, very garlicky and a 1/2 pound meat ball. He raved about the pasta, probably because it wasn't healthy whole wheat. Sigh. The health punishment.

As soon as we got home Roma called and came over with the best carrot cake I have even eaten. It was very dark, like whole wheat, but tasted exquisite. No whole wheat, no brown sugar and no molassas. It is her great grandmother's recipe. Scratch, even grates the carrots herself. I am hoping she will give me the recipe. She says it is easy.

And then we had some happy hour at Rex and Nellie's. Rick and Shirlene are leaving tomorrow morning and invited us all to go out to eat with them. There were 20 of us, and we went to Kody's. Paul had the chicken taco, and we split fried asparagus. Very, very delicious. I had a crab stuffed jalapeno. Yummmmmy. I also had a tuna taco. No, not from the can, fresh grilled tuna, rare. I am trying new foods. It was good. Odd to see red tuna. It had leaf lettuce, tomatoes and aloei sauce on it.

Then a lot of the men went to Burney's to play Texas Hold 'Em at 7 p.m. I was going to sit outside with Mavis and talk, went over there, hollered, she wasn't anywhere. It was cold with 30 mile per hour winds. Enough of that. She leaves Wed. Everyone is going!

Spell check isn't working, guess I will just post this.

Sunday Washers and Mattie the Basenji

On Sunday we took the golf cart to church, came home, went to the beach to play washers with Roma and Uncle Bob. A first for me, I had to practice and then we played and I am not good at that game. Of course. In my defense it was cold and windy and the wind kept blowing my washer away from the hole.

Here is a picture of Mattie, James and Roma's Basenji. She is cute and smart and stubborn.

Flotson and Jetson

Haven’t had a blog lately, sorry Marty, so this is some catch up. First I have a few pics of spring break when Ken was here. It was a beautiful day and we grilled fahitas and Kogel Hot dogs on the beach. Very yummy, just a little sandy. Pic of Ken and Javiar

On Sunday everyone but Paul and I went out on the party fishing boat. Ken caught the biggest fish and won the $75 pot. He bought a round of drinks after. See pic of Susan enjoying her drink on the back porch.

Then we had some dreary humid weather. All week the humidity was high, between 80% and 100%. Then suddenly on Saturday it was in the 90s and 10% humidity. And the beach was a mess most of the week. Lots of junk came in with the Sargasso grass. The tides were high and the wind was high and the waves were up to the dunes in some places. Very difficult to walk or do anything on the beach. Then another storm came in and cleaned out most of the junk.

This would be the jetson and flotson portion of the blog. After a storm blows in the sargasso grass, the beach is littered with all the junk that caught up in the grass out in the ocean. The first storm brought in flip flops and pieces of flip and flop, the odd tennis shoe and one expensive Crock pump. And yes I did look for the other one. Then we had the sun glasses storm. Lots and lots of sun glasses, and pieces. This was followed by oranges and onions. Then lots and lots of coconuts. By far the most interesting was the toiletries: toothbrushes, toothpaste tubes, brushes, combs, broken mirror frames, small travel bottles, empty glass perfume bottles, and on and on. I am hopeful that this stuff is from the last hurricaine and not from cruise ship dumping. Last fall after the hurricaine when the junk was really rolling in, up to and including refrigerators, Roma found two pawns, 18 inch tall chess pieces, a black and a white one. They were from a park in Galveston and they rolled up on the beach here in Port Aransas. Next to each other.

I will add a picture of it asap.

New Neighbors and Keenan's in DC

As the Winter Texan's leave the park, summer people move in. Just down from us is a huge fifth wheel. The couple that own it have 3 adult foster care folk. They are all very nice and polite and look to be in their late 40s or 50s. This must be a two bedroom RV to hold 5 adults. I see them walking down to the showers by themselves so they are pretty independent. They all seem real happy. Nice to see them so well taken care of and enjoying life as a vacation. George is always grilling ribs and what ever for them.

Sunday night we got new neighbors next door. A huge white motor home and a white hummer. They are nice. Have paid for this lot for 4 years without ever being here. Apparently they have a trucking company that hauls for HEB Groceries. Every night they go away and their little dogs barks for hours. Naturally they leave the TV on loud to keep it company. Guess the dog doesn't like TV after all. This area of the park is dog free from November to April. Got used to no barking.

Added a pic from Julie's blog of Sean, Julie, Patrick, Megan and Anna at the Lincoln Memorial in DC. They are just back from a family reunion out there. Good to see them all together, can see how tall Megan is getting. Megan was disappointed that it wasn't brown, like on the penny.

Catch up Blog

This is the view from Ken's balcony, the Gaff. Looking the other way is the ocean.

Then a pic of his dining table and couch and TV. The chase lounge was borrowed by the other condo.

The kitchen is awsome, love the shiney glass blocks on the walls.

The sink is very unique and, of course, I love the granite.

Ken Plagens got here last Wednesday night, a day early. Just in time for four dreary days at the beach. By pure chance he is staying in one the efficiency units over the Island Cycle/Lug Nuts building. It is so nice, we are cooking and eating there. Granite counter tops, all new stainless appliances, Pottery Barn furniture, etc. I will get pics.

We had planned dinner with Mavis, Rick and Shirlene for Wed. and Ken joined us. Very good and fun. On Tursday it was cold (60s) and cloudy with a few rain drops, we went to Corpus to get Ken some fishing clothes so he wouldn't look like a farmer on the beach. Academy has the best clothes for men. Just like Columbia, but half the price.

This is supposed to be the busy spring break week, but so far pretty calm here. Late one night we met three Marine Biologist grad students on the porch of the Gaff. They live in student housing right up in the beach dunes. What a place to be in college. So the days are all running together, rides on the beach, basketball on TV, sitting in bars talking to folks. By Friday I had used up all the bar time I can stand in one week. Sunday we tried to do laundry, as soon as we got in it started pouring. And this is Texas rain, huge drops. Had to wait go get back to the motor home. And now the water birds are very happy and the ponds are full at last. A 65 year-old-man was struck by lightening and killed on the beach.

Monday we all went to Mexico with James and Roma. It was sunny and hot, 91. Ate some good food, shopped a little. Muled out lots of booze. I got a nice turquoise and silver drop for my necklace. Haggled with a boy for a straw purse. It is a long trip down, but we laughted most of the way.

Shoemaker Brothers Last Island Gig

Beach pic of Dan and Gabe on Sun.

The guys rocked at their last gig Tuesday evening. After nearly two weeks in Port A they have accumulated a lot of fans and friends. They sang two Port A songs they had been working on, one with a real island flavor. They spent Monday fishing with Dan at his condo and eating and drinking very bad margaritas, had a ball and relaxed. Sean at Island Cycle/Lug Nuts checked over their van and changed the oil for them. He wouldn't take their money, just wanted a couple of CDs. They also had been jamming (a grad class in guitar) with an island guy, Jack, who is a great guitar man. He played and sang with them for one song. And Chris, a high school student, played guitar with them for a song. Just a big island love fest. Huge crowd for a Tuesday night.

Gabe told us they need to leave and sober up and become professional again. Off to New York City. They are very passionate about the music. Oh, funny story. Paul was telling Sean that the band was coming back in June and had some gigs lined up already. The owner of the Salty Dog was standing nearby, listening. He heard about three songs and came up to Paul and said "I want to book your band when they come bad in June." He thought Paul was the manager. He directed him to the web site. Since Paul had on a dark golf shirt, he thought he was a city boy.

Sorry to all the folks that I told the band was playing at the Tarpon Inn, it was the Tarpon Ice House. Which we had never heard of. I thought I had seen the worst that Port A had to offer, oh I was so mistaken. It is right on the main street and we would have been lost if Paul hadn't noticed a small sign out saying "Band Tonight." I guess we could have heard them if the window was open. Hard to imagine being lost in such a tiny town.

Many businesses on the Island have a fish name or beach theme, and the condos ... get some creativity, they just all run together in my head. Hard to keep them straight. Then the street names, letters -- Avenue C --- or numbers 11th Street. Beach Street is my favorite. So we are pretty easy to surprise. I recognize the souvenir shops by the large plastic creature out front, the shark or the octopus or whatever.

Although modest, and rightly so, the Tarpon Ice House had a stage out back in the patio. Imagine that you lived next to the dump and built yourself a house and patio area and got the building materials and furnished it for free! That is the ice house. There were maybe four real table and chair sets in various stages of decay. We sat behind a nice granite bar on rusted bar stools with rotted out netting. One had an old pillow on the seat so your butt cheeks didn't stick out the bottom. Lots of old rusted lawn furniture and kitchen chairs for the audience. The pool room had half cement with chipped paint and half wood laminate floor. But it all looked clean. Cold beer. The owner was happy to see it full of townies drinking beer.

They played until almost 11 pm, and then we headed out for the moon fire. A townie tradition, a beach bonfire on the full moon. Either everyone was at the bar or it was over with. So we headed home. I spent the day shopping with Merna in Corpus. Very fun and good deals!

Giant Oil Rig

All day Sunday this huge rig was making it's way from Engleside to Port Aransas and out the jetty to the gulf. It was pulled and pushed by 6 tugs.

A while back it was brought in, just the four big legs, looking like batteries floating in the water. A new top structure was built on it, and out it goes. Very interesting watching as it seemed to float through town.